


Nurse Ruth Waters.

by sonnet_18



Category: DRAMAtical Murder - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-26
Updated: 2015-04-26
Packaged: 2018-03-25 19:06:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,426
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3821476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sonnet_18/pseuds/sonnet_18
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An unexpected visitor from abroad open up past secrets between Ren and Aoba as she was searching for "Mr. Sei".</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nurse Ruth Waters.

**Author's Note:**

  * For [epiproctan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/epiproctan/gifts).



> This was part of the RenAo week submission but can be read as a standalone story.

 

———

When Tae answers the door, she expected Koujaku to drop by for a visit instead of getting free food from her. But never did she expect a beautiful woman with bronze skin, raven hair and emerald eyes at her doorstep.

“Hello, my name is Ruth Waters. Is this Seragaki’s home address?” she asks with a bow. Her Japanese spoken in slow pronunciation like those of a beginner.

“Indeed.” Tae replies in fluent English, “how may I help you?”

She look relieved as she held the brown paper bag in her hands and asks nervously, “Is Mr. Sei at home?”

*************

At the livingroom, Ren sits down at the couch with Allmate Ren sleeping on his lap. Next to him is the pretty foreigner who looks nervous but at the same time happy. Aoba currently kneels beside the coffee table as he prepare the tea and fried donuts for their guest. Tae is at the kitchen, cleaning up. The sliding door separating the kitchen and the livingroom slightly ajar. Listening.

“Mr. Sei, my name is Ruth Waters. Do you remember me?”

Ren, or Mr. Sei as she kept calling him, blinks. To be honest he doesn’t recognize her. But her voice does sound familiar although his memory is a bit hazy. However when she move a bit, he got a whiff of her scent and that’s when the jigsaw puzzle match!

“Lily flowers! You’re the one from that time!”

She sighs a relief with a hand on her ample bosom, “I’m so glad you remembered me! I was worried I got the wrong address. I’m happy you look healthy and stronger than last time I saw you. Almost like a different person…”

Aoba stands up after setting the drinks on the table to slowly exit the room. Reluctant to leave but it’ll be rude to just sit there and listen in to their conversation. So he heads to the kitchen in very slow steps, hoping Ren will stop him and offer to sit with them. Or better, sit between her and his Ren. However when Aoba saw Ren hardly spare a glance at his back and is animatedly talking to their guest, he sighs and joins Tae at the kitchen table.

******

“Baa-chan…”

“What?”

“Ren and that lady sure are taking their time talking out there. Maybe I should go and refill their drinks?”

“Aoba, you already did that 5 minutes ago. Let them be.”

“But~”

“If Ren needs your assistance, he’ll call for you.”

Aoba pouts as he plays with Allmate Ren’s paws. His lover has let their allmate go to the kitchen and be with his other owner as Ren tends to their guest.

“If I changed your setting earlier on, maybe you can tell me what they were talking about.” Aoba says to the puppy who just happily barks back.

“Aoba, it’s rude to eavesdrop on other people’s conversation!” she hits his head with a rolled up newspaper.

Her grandson rubs his sore head and whispers to his little friend, “or I could have set your eyes to record what she look like…”

“Aoba!”

“Okay, okay! I was just kidding!” he covers his head before she give him another blow!

******

Finally, around two hours later, Ren and Aoba greet their guest good bye at the main entrance of the house.

“Thank you, Mr. Sei, for your hospitality. I’m so sorry I came suddenly unannounced.” 

Aoba forced a smile around her, biting back the comment that it’s common sense to actually bring some present for the owner of the house when you drop by for a visit.

“Thank you too, Miss Waters. I’m glad to meet you again.” Ren bows to her when she finish wearing back her boots.

“During this vacation, there was a 1% chance that I can trace your whereabouts. I’m so glad I didn’t give up and found you finally! Now I can go back to London with no regrets. Thank you for the donuts, they were delicious!”

Tae appears from the kitchen and give her a Bento lunch box, “help yourself to this.”

“F-for me?”

“It’s for how you took care of my… grandson when he was abroad.” 

Aoba was speechless. He thought he wasn’t alone with being in the dark about this mystery guest. Turned out his grandma knew her all along too?

Their guest almost gave Tae a hug for the donuts but the older woman deftly evade by sending her to the door with small talk. The two exit out the door, leaving the two men at the hallway.

Once alone, Aoba grabs Ren’s arm, “Ren…”

Aoba’s expression says it all and the brunette understood the many questions his lover wants to ask. 

Smiling, Ren holds Aoba’s hand as he lead him to the stairs, “let’s go to our room.” he says as he carries the brown paper bag in his other arm. 

Once upstairs, they sit down on the floor as Ren place the bag on the coffee table. 

It’s time for the confession. 

“Her name is Ruth Waters.”

“I know that.” Aoba replies impatiently. He needs more information, more!

“She was one of the nurse who took care of me when I was hospitalized abroad.” He adds on.

“At that time I wasn’t able to move, speak nor see what’s around me. Most of the time I was asleep but the few times I did woke up, I could only hear her voice as she greet me in the morning.”

“You recognize her just from her voice?”

“And flowers.”

“Huh?”

“Miss Waters used to bring flowers into my room, saying it’s to liven up my room. Though I never saw how the flowers look like, I can tell they were pretty just from their smell.”

Aoba has this strange feeling of jealousy seeing Ren’s gentle smile at the few memories he had abroad. When he was alone and unable to move nor speak. Virus and Trip stopped checking his progress of recovery after finding out the person within that body was not Sei.

“I told you that I could hear your voice, Aoba. Your cries… I can hear them in my head instead of my ears. I felt so frustrated then. I wanted to go after you so bad. I wanted to be by your side even if I have to crawl out of bed. But my body, Sei’s body, was still heavily injured then. I could only wait. 

“Miss Waters’ care and visits helped me go through that time. Although obviously I can’t reply, she continue on talking to me as if I was a friend. She told me about books that she read and how she hated some of the authors who bullied her favourite characters. She told me about her kick boxing class and how her instructor was a pervert. She told me about food recipes she plan to try out that weekend. It… was a nice feeling. I’m sure she told me a lot of things then, I was just not conscious most of the time during her care.”

Aoba’s jealousy now simmer down to a mixture of sadness and envy. 

“A-Aoba? what’s the matter? are you angry?” Ren asks anxiously when he saw his lover’s face.

Aoba shakes his head as he laughs but it was a forced one, “I… need to tell you something too, Ren. A confession of mine.”

He takes a deep breathe and sighs, “after Oval Tower’s collapse,  during that one year when you were gone and I felt so… alone… I used to go to Mizuki’s place or Koujaku’s. We just drank and talk. Nothing really happened but… “ he scratch his head as he try to find words to describe his experience.

“It was hard… Ren. I missed you, I really really missed you. Everyday I hold him… and cried.” 

Aoba hugs their Allmate tight. The pup licks Aoba’s cheek with a soft whine. Understanding one of his owner is upset.

“I knew you weren’t gone. I knew we’ll meet one day, I believe that. But it was so hard to wake up from bed and not collapse on the floor, just… stopping myself from not… crying.”

“Aoba…”

Ren pull Aoba close and hugs him tight.

“I’m sure Koujaku and Mizuki was busy with their job and stuffs… they must have realized why I was all gloomy and irritable but… they’re so nice they never once asked me what happen or why I’m acted like that. Mizuki knew when I needed space or when I needed a friend to talk to. Koujaku always answer my calls no matter how late at night it was…”

“Aoba… I’m so sorry that I—”

He press a finger against Ren’s lips.

“Don’t. I just… needed to tell you that. Don’t blame yourself, it’s already in the past. Besides, we were talking about you. Sorry I butt in.”

Ren shakes his head as he kiss Aoba’s forehead, “thank you… for telling me about that, Aoba. I swear to you that I’ll never leave you alone again. We’ll always be together.”

“Together, always.” Aoba smiles with moist eyes as they move closer to kiss…

“Ren, what’s that?” 

At the last moment before their lips meet, Aoba pull away as he points to the brown paper bag on the coffee table.

Ren end up kissing Aoba’s cheek.

“Oh, it’s from Nurse Waters. The reason she visited me is because she wanted to return my items. Well, they’re not exactly my belongings. Back then Virus and Trip suddenly transferred me to Japan. Informing only the head doctor and nurse. Nurse Waters has been keeping this with her and felt guilty. She thought I might need it and so flew here to Japan to search for me after all these years…”

Aoba’s eyes never left the bag, “can I see what’s inside?”

Ren seems a bit reluctant, “you might… feel sad, Aoba.”

Aoba blinks at Ren’s words. 

“I’ll be fine.” he replies in a determined tone, “I have you with me, right?”

Ren took a moment to think before finally nodding, “okay.”

He reach to grab the bag and place it on Aoba’s lap. The two still haven’t separate so both of them stare down together to see what’s inside.

A worn old choker.

A ruined, dark fedora hat.

A pair of gloves with skeleton patterns on it. The left glove was beyond repair while the right side is still wearable.

“This is…”

“Sei’s belongings. When Sei’s body was rescued, the nurses took care of his clothes and accessories. Nurse Waters held on to these items and came here to return them back. Thinking I, Sei, may still need them.”

Aoba tenderly touch the hat…

“I… I see, that’s really… considerate of… her—”

Ren hold Aoba closer as he starts to cry. 

Cries that turn into hard sobs.

Memories of that time when he used his powers to destroy Sei’s soul. 

Memories of Sei’s final smile.

Telling Aoba thank you for releasing him from his pain…

“Sei…”

Aoba hugs the battered hat in his chest together with Allmate Ren in his arms. Resting his head on Ren’s broad shoulders. Ren waited for Aoba’s sobs to subside, letting him have all the time he needed to finally mourn over his late brother. 

Finally, now Aoba has something of Sei on top of memories of their reunion and final parting…

It was a bittersweet feeling…

******

“Thank you, Ren… and… sorry.” Aoba sniffles as he assess Ren’s wet shirt from his tears. 

His lover just smile like it never once bothered him, “it’s fine, Aoba. I’m happy that I was able to make you feel better. Even if it’s just a little.”

Aoba shakes his head, “a lot! You helped me a whole lot, Ren! Thank you!”

Ren chuckles as he wipes the tear marks from Aoba’s cheeks. “Then I should say, you’re welcome, Aoba.”

Once he felt calmer and letting all that out with tears and snot and stuffs, Aoba felt a bit better. He’ll always miss his brother but at least… he has some of Sei’s memento now. Now Aoba feels a bit guilty for thinking the nurse was a threat to him and Ren.

“Ren…”

“Hmm?”

“I love you.”

Ren blinks at Aoba’s words of affections but smiles tenderly in return, “I love you too, Aoba.”

They smile at each other before finally they return back to hugging. 

Touching Sei’s old belongings as they talk about their precious family member whose now… somewhere he’s no longer in pain and at peace…

*******

“Baa-chan! We’re heading out!”

Tae stands up from praying infront of the family altar 

On the altar, there’s Sei’s fedora hat.

“Be careful out there on the road!” she shouts from the door frame, “and tell her she can keep the box!”

“Yes, we will!” Aoba and Ren replies back together.

*******

On the road, the two of them walk side by side with small smiles.

“Aoba.”

“Hmm?”

Aoba turn to his lover, never once letting go of Ren’s hand clasp to his.  

Aoba’s wearing a new glove today, it’s Sei’s glove with the skeleton pattern.

“I hope we’re not late to reach the airport before Nurse Waters board her plane.” Ren says worriedly, checking his watch.

“Don’t worry, I checked her flight schedule and we still have a bit of time. I wanted to tell her my thanks for reuniting Sei with us.”

“Won’t she be confused? After all she thinks I’m… Mr. Sei.”

“I won’t tell her everything about our situation. Just… a simple thank you and good bye before she leaves Midorijima for good. That if she wants to come back to Japan again, she’ll have friends here waiting for her.”

“Friends?”

“You, me and this lil’ guy here.”

Allmate Ren pops out from Ren’s sling bag and pants happily. Excited to feel the cool wind against its fur. He’s wearing a new collar today, Sei’s choker.

“Woof!” 

“How about we invite her to watch the Cherry Blossom viewing part next year?”

“I think she’ll be very happy of the offer, Aoba.”

“Alright! then, Ren, show us a short cut to reach the airport!”

“Woof, woof!”

As instructed, the Allmate project a screen with the recommended route of the destination.

“South West huh? let’s go, Ren!”

“Roger!”

And they both run together like little kids going late for their first day of school. Aoba have never laugh this much at how he’s still a slow runner compared to Ren’s fast legs.

“Unfair! Why are you still faster than me when you’re carrying Ren?”

“I’m sorry, Aoba!”

“You’re not sorry at all, you!”

—-

———

————–

END?


End file.
